Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This material is always kept toothlessly at the margins of the movie.

From The Verge • Feb. 12, 2019

Congress defused the movement by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, which pledged — toothlessly, it turned out — to eliminate annual federal deficits within six years.

From New York Times • Aug. 22, 2016

Pryor’s character, as originally written, is supposed to be toothlessly amused.

From New York Times • Dec. 4, 2014

This sentence might seem toothlessly vague, but it’s a legal hand grenade—one that Alabama now seems poised to lob at the Supreme Court.

From Slate • Nov. 5, 2014

Amarante stood there toothlessly half-grinning with his big gun held laxly, almost limply in his hands.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols